


In Holy Matrimony

by PotterheadAvengerDemigod



Series: Is A Better Woman [4]
Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel 3490, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Caw Caw, Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Domestic Avengers, F/M, Insecure Steve, Insecure Tony, Reveal, Secret Relationship, Toni's workshop, Tony Being Tony, actually just domestic Steve and Tony, ceiling vents!!!!!!!, kinda but not really too, well kinda, workshop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-04-07 03:52:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4248321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PotterheadAvengerDemigod/pseuds/PotterheadAvengerDemigod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“So… You’re dating?”<br/>"No."<br/>"Oh. Good. I thought for a moment th-"<br/>“Try married.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter starts off immediately from the ending of Behind Every Good Man, but you don't need to read BEGM to understand it.

Clint is perched on top of the refrigerator, a simple blue bowl in his hands -that was Steve’s bowl, screw you, Barton-, eating Toni’s (secret) stash of Lucky Charms (goddammit, no one touches her cereal!).

Natasha's seated at the table, casually inspecting her knives, a mug of coffee in front of her, beside where she's lain all her weapons.

Bruce is at the toaster, staring at the machine blearily, sleep still clouding his vision. He blinks uncomprehendingly at the thing, before shaking his head roughly and turning away, grabbing a mug and pouring himself tea from the teapot on the kitchen counter.

Wait. Toni hadn't even known that they owned a teapot.

She casts Steve a bemused look before bursting into the kitchen, still desperately trying to register the chaos.

“Barton! Off my fridge! Yeah, it can take your weight and more -it’s Starktech, duh-, but off! And get your own cereal! Don’t touch my Lucky Charms!”

Steve just enters the room, grabbing the nearest frying pan and pulling the cheese and ham out of the fridge, conveniently ignoring the bird-man perched above him.

He snags the egg tray and cracks the entire tray into a large bowl, whisking it briskly before setting it aside while he fries the ham in the pan. He dumps the ham into the egg before throwing the mixture into the pan and scrambling it, adding cheese as he goes.

It’s all done remarkably fast, and before Toni can even convince Clint to get down from his perch, the smell of frying ham and egg attracts the archer, who jumps nimbly down, dropping into the nearest chair and shoveling eggs onto his plate.

Nat puts down her coffee cup, eyeing the food before shrugging and spooning some onto her plate as well, while Bruce simply rubs his eyes, stares at the bowl of scrambled eggs, ham and cheese, and continues sipping at his cup of tea.

Toni just turns to the percolator and frowns when she realises that it’s not on.

She pouts subconsciously, turning to Steve out of pure reflex, and the soldier just rolls his eyes and grabs the pot of coffee on the table that Toni somehow missed.

“Thanks, darling,” Toni coos, grinning while she inhales the caffeine in one shot.

Steve shakes his head indulgently at her actions, pulling the coffee pot out of reach when Toni makes grabby hands towards it. Steve pushes a plate of food into her hands in place of the coffee, and Toni frowns down at the solids before raising her head and pulling the most effective weapon she has against Steve -puppy eyes.

The eyes work approximately 99.9% of the time, her own stats assure her of that, but apparently this morning is one of the 0.1%. Steve looks at her for a long moment, and Toni is convinced that he’s about to cave when Steve shakes his head and pulls the coffee pot even further out of reach. “Solid food first. Then caffeine.”

Toni groans and begins eating.

* * *

Clint sees the interaction between Toni and Steve, chuckling at the familiarity, and because he's never seen Stark so comfortable around someone other Potts and Rhodes, but he guesses that's what happens when you allow Toni Stark to be the first person Captain America sees after waking up.

Clint knows that Iron Woman was the one assigned to get Steve acclimatised to the world, because who better than the futurist herself? Somewhere along the way, the two probably became really good friends, he guesses.

The archer watches as Toni scarfs down her food before pouncing on the mug of coffee in Steve's hands, the Captain rolling his eyes fondly and pushing it into her hands before the brown liquid can splash everywhere as a result of Toni's violent actions.

The genius cradles her caffeine in her palms, taking a long drink before promptly proclaiming, "I'm going down to the workshop now."

Then she disappears before anyone can even say anything.

Steve shakes his head as if he’s used to sudden disappearances, settling down at the table and piling his plate with food before pouring a glass of juice and pulling out the newspaper.

It’s scarily domestic.

* * *

 Steve whiles away half the afternoon sketching mindlessly, the cityscape and the Avengers appearing under his pencil, before deciding that he really needs to talk with Toni.

She’d been just that bit too reckless during the invasion.

He gets up and takes the elevator down to the workshop, entering his override codes and waiting for JARVIS to open the doors.

Toni’s at the metal bench off to one side of the ‘shop, tweezers and screwdriver in hand, rewiring the gauntlets, tongue poking out between her lips and brow furrowed in concentration.

Steve smiles at the familiar sight, fingers itching to brush that lock of hair that always fell in her face out of the way. He coughs lightly, causing Toni to put down her tools.

“Steve,” Toni starts, clearly trying to sound disapproving at him interrupting her work, but failing as the fondness in her voice grows evident. It says something that Toni doesn’t even need to turn to know that it’s Steve.

Steve wraps his arms around her midsection, resting his chin on her head as he peers down on what she’s been doing to the suit.

“You know,” he starts. “We need to talk about you flying off -against orders- to distract the Other during the invasion. That was reckless, Tone.”

He can feel Toni tense up in his embrace, stance turning defensive even as she pulls out of the hug to glare at him. “I did what I had to do, Steve. If I hadn’t, we’d all be dead now.”

“I know, Toni,” Steve soothes. “But I’m just saying, it was dangerous, baby, you could’ve been injured.”

“I knew what I was doing.”

Toni’s anger is starting to get to him a little, and Steve can feel a slight annoyance rising up as he snaps, “You could’ve been killed, Toni!”

“Deal with it, _Captain_! I knew what I was doing, there was no other way! It’s a risk I’m willing to take, if it means saving the team!”

Steve’s irritation melts as abruptly as it’d surfaced, and he can almost feel Toni’s insecurity rising. She’d always seen herself as expendable, as less worthy than the others, no matter how many times Steve had reassured her she wasn’t.

“We all know I’m the least valuable on this te- mmph!”

That’s when Steve’s heart breaks just a little, and he can’t help himself as he surges forward, pulling Toni into a desperate kiss that he hopes conveys that she _isn’t_ useless. He pulls her ever closer, arm wrapped securely around her waist while one hand carresses her cheek gently.

When Toni finally goes pliant against him, he pulls back, staring into her eyes as he puts every ounce of sincerity he has into his gaze. “Never, _never_ say that about yourself, Toni. You’re the best, greatest person I’ve ever known, and you’re invaluable to this team -if anything, I’m the leas-”

Toni socks him in the arm in retaliation for the comment and reels him back in, mumbling a soft, “Never.” before locking their lips again.

* * *

Clint wriggles his way into the ventilation system in the Tower, the metal tubes surprisingly wide.

He starts exploring the Tower by way of the vents, dropping down a few levels to explore the lower floors just for the heck of it.

He's crawling through the vents when he hears arguing coming from the direction of the lab, and naturally, he heads that way.

"You could’ve been killed, Toni!”

Well, that was definitely Cap.

“Deal with it, _Captain_! I knew what I was doing, there was no other way! It’s a risk I’m willing to take, if it means saving the team! We all know I’m the least valuable on this te- mmph!”

Clint starts at the sudden stop to Toni’s sentence, and he peers through the vent grate down at the scene in the lab.

Toni’s lips are pressed up against Steve’s, the soldier’s hand caressing her cheek softly, the other looped around her waist.

Steve pulls away slowly, blue eyes staring softly into dark brown. “Never, _never_ say that about yourself, Toni. You’re the best, greatest person I’ve ever known, and you’re invaluable to this team -if anything, I’m the leas-”

Toni punches Steve in the arm and reels him back in, mumbling a soft, “Never.” before locking their lips again.

The sight shocks him so much that the floor gives way beneath his feet. Literally. The vent grate drops out from under him and he tumbles to the ground, landing in an ungainly heap at Captain America and Iron Woman’s feet.

“Oh, hey, guys,” Clint slurs before the previous scene catches up to him and he blacks out.

When he comes to, Cap and Toni are towering above him, arms crossed with similar unamused expressions. Toni’s eyebrow is arched, full lips downturned while Cap simply stares at him, eyes narrowed and lips pressed into a thin line.

Clint tries for an innocent look. “So… You’re dating?”

Something glimmers in Toni’s eyes, and a little puddle of worry starts to pool in Clint. Oh God, this is not going to go down well.

“No,” the genius replies, and Clint can feel his tilted world righting on its axis.

He heaves a relieved sigh. “Oh good, for a moment there I tho-”

Toni yanks Steve down for another kiss before surfacing, a silvery-blue band on her ring finger flashing in the lighting of the lab. “Try married.”

Okay, forget tilted off its axis. His world is completely _gone_.

Clint proceeds to pass the hell out.


	2. Chapter 2

"Tones?" Steve's voice calls from behind where the engineer is soldering some piece of intricate circuitry. "Y'know, we should probably consider telling the others about our relationship."

Toni turns away from her work to stare at Steve, eyebrow quirked.

"Well," she starts. "I'm not particularly against the idea, but seeing the way that they've been finding out, all of them will know soon. Besides, the only one who doesn't know still is Thor. I mean, Bruce found out in the Helicarrier lab, Loki found out in the QuinJet hangar, Nat found out during the Chitauri battle and Clint found out just a couple weeks ago, when he decided to go all superspy on us."

“All the more reason we should tell Thor,” Steve counters. “if I were him, knowing that I was the last to find out about something that all of my teammates already know, I’d be more than annoyed.”

Toni tilts her head, raising both eyebrows as she considers Steve’s point of view.

She shrugs. “I guess you’re right. How should we tell him, though?”

“Well, we coul-”

That’s when the Assemble alarm sounds.

* * *

The Avengers assemble just outside the QuinJet landing pad, where the first thing out of Steve’s mouth is, “JARVIS, what’s the problem?”

“There appears to be a massive gelatinous creature rampaging through Lower Manhattan. There also appear to be group of Advanced Idea Mechanics scientists shooting random objects with ray guns.”

Toni groans. “AIM. Again. God dammit, they’re worse than cockroaches. They’re even worse than _Doom_!”

The other Avengers simply roll their eyes at Toni, Steve grinning indulgently.

By the time Toni stops ranting, the others have already boarded the QuinJet and are preparing for takeoff.

Clint's voice echoes over the comms of the jet. "Last one to the giant jello monster is a rotten egg! Eat my exhaust, Stark!"

"Oh, you'll regret that, Hawkass! You really wanna see how fast the suit can go?"

Of course, Toni’d pretty much designed the QuinJets, and she knows they can only hit a maximum speed of about Mach 3, while the suit, on the other hand, has supersonic capabilities.

She could outstrip all of them and reach the battlesite in seconds, at the suit’s full speed of Mach 5, but then again, that might actually result in her overshooting the site and ending up last to arrive.

* * *

She's the first to arrive, even with her having to slow down to speeds that Steve, who's hitching a ride and is just vulnerable human flesh.

When the QuinJet touches down, minutes after them, she grins.

"'Last one to the giant jello monster is a rotten egg,' he says. What's that smell? Ladies and gents, the amazing Hawkass."

"Oh, shut up, Stark," Clint grumbles.

Steve stifles a chuckle, exchanging amused glances with Natasha.

“Alright,” Steve starts when the Toni and Clint finally stop bickering. “Avengers, listen up. Thor, Iron Woman, I want you two on aerial support. Any Avenger gets into a rough spot, you get them out. Other than that, you hit the enemy as hard as you can. Hawkeye, you stay up top and keep us informed, keep the enemy distracted. Widow, I want you trying to find the guy behind all this. I’ll cover you. Dr. Banner, see if it’s possible to de-engineer whatever the heck this thing is. As of now, the Hulk is not needed. Alright, let’s go.” 

* * *

It’s a while later that Steve is following Natasha into an abandoned shophouse, shield at the ready while Natasha fingers her guns.

They've just gotten the mad scientist under control and under Natasha's watch when Clint's voice comes filtering through the comms, staticky and panicked. "Iron Woman is down, I repeat Iron Woman is down!"

Steve blanches, tossing Natasha a desperate look. The assassin nods curtly, eyes telling him she's fine alone.

Steve runs out of the abandoned shophouse like the hounds of Hades are chasing him.

* * *

When Steve reaches Iron Woman, the jello monster is already down and the AIM scientists have either fled or are being rounded up by SHIELD agents, and Steve rushes to the suit, and with a sigh of relief he notices that the Reactor is still glowing.

Alright. The suit's still online, then, and Toni's still alive.

"Hawkeye," Steve calls as the archer drops down beside him, Thor just behind. "Report. Did you see what happened?"

Clint nods once, tersely. "Yeah. Energy beam, got her right in the Reactor, crashed the suit faster than I've ever seen before."

Steve frowns and reaches for the release catches that Toni has built into the suit, but even after applying supersoldier strength to the catches doesn't work, he's got to admit that the suit's locked up. He has no way of telling how injured Toni is in the suit, if she's bleeding out or injured or dying, if she's even conscious at all. He doesn't want to entertain the notion, but there's a small voice in his head that's yelling about how Toni's probably bleeding out from some horrible (or possibly multiple horrible) wound(s). After all, it wouldn't be the first time.

Steve rips his cowl off his head, raking his fingers through his hair roughly, relishing the slight sting before rocking back on his heels, eyebrows furrowed.

“Oh, to hell with it all,” he mutters under his breath.“JARVIS, disengage the suit: code sierra-romeo-eight-seven.”

The suit disengages immediately, pieces folding together jerkily to reveal Toni, eyes half-squinted shut and long lashes shadowing them. She’s fine but for a bad bruise forming on her jaw and a slight bump on her head, staring blankly at the Avengers, mumbling a little under her breath as Steve gently raises her chin slightly so that he can inspect her unfocused eyes. Toni starts a little at the contact, eyes still barely registering her surroundings before they narrow somewhat on Steve. “Oh, hi, Stevie, sweetheart,” she mumbles, still out of it to an extent.

Steve scrutinises her a little longer before shaking his head and leaning back on his palms. “Mild concussion,” he determines. “Nothing much to worry about.”

Toni simply stares blankly at him before shaking her head violently as her eyes clear and open fully to register the scene before her, head turning briefly to note the suitcase beside her before wincing. Her eyes narrow as she processes the suitcase.

“Steven Grant Rogers!” Toni suddenly says in a voice that conveys all the strictness of shouting but none of the volume. “Did you just use your codes -your _private, not-to-be-known, emergency_ codes, may I add- to disengage the suit just because of a mild concussion and slight bruising? For God’s sake, they’re _emergency_ codes for a reason, Steve!”

Steve simply smiles, relieved, and hoists Toni up before pulling her into a crushing hug and mashing their lips together. "Oh, thank God."

* * *

After Toni gets back from Medical, which Steve basically forced her to visit, they're abruptly cornered by Thor, who grins broadly and claps them on the shoulders.

"My friends," he bellows heartily. "Many congratulations on your union! May your union be blessed by the Lord Freyr and the Lady Freyja, to last forevermore!"

After Thor leaves, Toni turns to Steve, bemused, and goes, "Well, I guess there's no need to tell Thor any longer."

 

**Author's Note:**

> So, not my best work, I guess. Hope you enjoyed it either way!


End file.
